Morgan Evans Australian Singer From Newcastle

Morgan Evans is an Australian country singer-songwriter, born on 24 April 1985 in Newcastle, New South Wales. He built a following in Australian country music before relocating to Nashville, and he reached a wider audience internationally with the 2017 single "Kiss Somebody". In 2026 he released the album Steel Town and was announced as a judge on Australian Idol.

Early life

Evans grew up in Newcastle and attended Warners Bay High School. He gave his first public performance at the age of 13. At school he sang and played guitar in a rock trio called Extortion, which won the state high school band competition Youthrock in 2002. The group was later renamed Solver; by 2006 Evans was its lead vocalist and guitarist, with his younger brother Tom on bass and a friend, Nicholas Cook, on drums. Solver won Artist of the Year and Best Rock Act at the MusicOZ Awards in 2006.

Career

In 2007 Evans won the Road to Tamworth competition, and the prize was a trip to Nashville to record a single. He signed with Sony BMG and released his first single, "Big Skies", in September 2007; the track received airplay on Australian country radio. He went on to tour with Brooks & Dunn, Gary Allan, Shannon Noll and Adam Harvey, and Taylor Swift chose him personally to open her first Australian tour.

In January 2012 he released the EP Live Each Day through Warner Music Australasia, and a second EP, While We're Young, followed in August. His self-titled debut album appeared in March 2014 and reached number 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The track "Like a Tornado" was shortlisted for the 2014 Vanda and Young Songwriting Competition. He also hosted the CMC Music Awards for three consecutive years, from 2015 to 2017.

After moving to Nashville, Evans signed with Warner Music Nashville in May 2017, and his first American single, "Kiss Somebody", was released that year. The single "Hotel" also dates from 2017. His second studio album, Things That We Drink To, appeared in October 2018, preceded by the single "Day Drunk" earlier that year, and a third EP, titled Morgan Evans EP, was released too. In November 2019 he released the single "Diamonds".

In September 2021 he announced the EP The Country and the Coast (Side A). The EP Life Upside Down came out in April 2023, and that year he returned to Australia for two sold-out shows at the Sydney Opera House. His first live album, Live at the Sydney Opera House, followed in April 2024.

In September 2025 Evans announced that he had signed with Virgin Music Group. The first single under the new deal, "Beer Back Home", was released on 10 October 2025, and the studio album Steel Town was released in March 2026. In August 2026 it was announced that he would join the reality singing competition Australian Idol as a judge, replacing Kyle Sandilands, who had left the programme in July 2026.

Recognition

Evans was named New Oz Artist of the Year at the 2013 CMC Music Awards, and at the 2014 ceremony he won Oz Artist of the Year, Male Artist of the Year and Best Australian Video of the Year. He was the 2016 Country Music Association Global Artist of the Year and has won five fan-voted Country Music Channel Awards. Things That We Drink To won the ARIA Award for Best Country Album in 2019, and in March 2020 he received the Outstanding International Achievement Award at the APRA Awards.

Personal life

Evans married the singer Kelsea Ballerini on 2 December 2017 in Mexico. The marriage ended in divorce in 2022.